Letter: Community Cat Ordinance a chance for Baton Rouge to join progressive cities

Baton Rouge is on the cusp of making another progressive move to be more like other progressive cities around the country such as Jacksonville, Florida; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Dallas, just to name a few.

Companion Animal Alliance’s proposed Community Cat Ordinance is being considered by the Metro Council. This ordinance would allow feral/stray cats to be spayed/neutered, vaccinated and returned to their neighborhoods to live out their lives as “community cats.” This program would be 100 percent funded by grants.

Once implemented, this Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return program will greatly reduce the number of unwanted kittens from being born and will drastically reduce the number of cats and kittens that are euthanized every day at Companion Animal Alliance, the shelter in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Other progressive-thinking cities using the TNVR program as an alternative to euthanasia are Fayetteville, Arkansas; West Hollywood, California; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Camden, New Jersey; and West Point, Virginia. As of February, there were more than 350 cities and counties across the country participating in TNVR.

Under the current system, an animal control officer goes out and picks up the cats and brings them to CAA (the shelter), where it is almost certain the cats will be euthanized. Doesn’t this proposed Community Cat Ordinance present a better alternative?

Kenner is practicing this community cats program. Let’s move the city of Baton Rouge, our state capital, into the forefront of progressive thinking regarding animal control.

This ordinance will come before the Council at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Please help move Baton Rouge forward by calling or emailing your council person to express your support of this ordinance.

To quote Mahatma Gandhi: “The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”